04-27-2011
• Officer.com
"We're leveraging the technology (networks of security cameras) that private industry already has," Schultz said, adding that up to 200 businesses participate. "It has really taken off."
Police agencies increasingly rely on controversial technology and social media to make up for the loss of thousands of officers and other resources to deep budget cuts, law enforcement officials and criminal justice analysts say.
Some, including the city of Albuquerque, have taken the unusual step of sharing real-time investigative information with private business groups on interactive websites to help stop theft rings, locate violent crime suspects and track fugitives.